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Shvoong Home>Books>Poetry>Review on “the Lady of Shallot” by Alfred Lord Tennyson Review

Review on “the Lady of Shallot” by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Book Review   by:akso6o175     Original Author: Andy Kester Sawian
  • Summary rating: 5 stars (12 Ratings)
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‘The Lady of Shallot’ was first published in 1832 in a volume titled ‘Poems, Chiefly Lyrical’. The title was suggested to the poet by the Italian novelette, Donna de Scalotta. ‘Shallot’ is a variant of the word ‘Ascalot’ or ‘Astolat’; poets and chroniclers generally use the name in these two forms. Tennyson gave the name ‘Elsine’ to the Fair Maid of Astolat, around whom Tennyson built another longer poem, ‘Elaine’, which was one of his idylls. Camelot was the legendary capital of King Arthur with lofty castles.
The story of the poem is taken from Sir Thomas Malory’s ‘History of Prince Arthur, Part-III’ and is Tennyson’s earliest attempt to deal with an Arthurian legend. It is believed that the leaves of the aspen trees tremble in the slightest wind because they feel horrified when remembering that the cross which crucified Jesus Christ was made of aspen wood: aspen is also associated with sadness and melancholy. The legends runs thus-Sir Lancelot, “the bravest and the best” of the Knights of King Arthur’s Round Table, was proceeding to Winchester to participate in a tournament. On the way, as he happened to pass by the Castle of Astolat (Shallot), he was welcomed by Sir Bernard, the Lord of Astolat. He met Elaine, “the Fair Maid of Astolat”, daughter of Sir Bernard there and the lady fell in love with him. He returned her love and agreed to wear the love tokens of the lady to the tournament. ‘A magic web’ is the mysterious or fairy fabric: by the use of the word ‘magic’, the poet invests the atmosphere with an air of mystery. Further, a lady who weaves a magic web cannot be a normal being. She is unreal, shadowy figure surrounded by mystery and magic. There is also a medieval touch. It was customary with high born ladies in the middle Ages to spend their time in weaving tapestries and other textures. The ‘mirror blue’ must have been a polished metal which appeared to be blue when looked at obliquely. Such mirrors were in use in the middle ages.
In ancient days of chivalry, every lady had a knight who was devoted to her in obedience to the strict code of chivalry. But the lady of Shallot has no true knight of her own. The poet here not only suggest the pathos in the life of the Lady of Shallot but gives expression to the lament of all who crave for love or friendship but fail to get it. In the combat, Sir Lancelot was wounded and carried to the castle of Astolat where he was nurse back to health by Elaine. Before he left the castle he gave his armour to Elaine as keep sake. But he never returned to Elaine. The poor lady, betrayed by her love and completely heartbroken, pined away to death. The bridle of Sir Lancelot was studded with bright jewels. As the light of the sun fell on the bridle it shone luminously like the ‘Milky Way’. In their brightness, the gems resembled the stars. The ‘bearded meteor’ or comet with its tail of light; properly speaking, a meteor is a shooting star and not a comet. But a shooting star has no beard; the tail of a comet may be taken for its beard. Both a meteor and a comet are ominous and the poet is perhaps intentionally compounding the two in the phrase ‘bearded meteor’. She covered the whole length of the room in three long and quick steps. Three is a magical number. It is associated with both good and evil. The image, of course, is not of a lady covering a big hall with three jumps, but a lady, impatient and highly excited, pacing in her room and furiously thinking what she should do next. After a moment’s hesitation she takes three steps, goes to the window, looks out to the real world and sees the water-lilies.
The cold autumnal wind brings rain in its wake; as the wind blew over the wood, the yellow leaves of the trees fell down and the trees looked bare. A prophet having foresight sees in his inspiration the vision of his forthcoming misfortune but he does not lose heart. The lady of Shallot too, realized that her life would end in a disaster, and that Camelot, the residence of Sir Lancelot, would be the seat of the disaster. But all the day she remained gazing at Camelot. With her sad face, she gazed boldly without losing her heart, just like the seer who looks calmly forward to his doom. Accordingly, to honour her dying request, her dead body was placed on a bed in a barge and was thus conveyed by a dumb attendant to the palace of King Arthur. A letter was handed over to the king telling the tale of Elaine’s unbequeathed love, and he ordered the story to be engraved on her tomb.
Published: October 21, 2010   
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